TDL Highlights Commercial Opportunity of GDPR in the Digital Economy By Fostering Trust from ‘Reluctant Sharers’

New TDL Working Group Publication ‘Privacy: the competitive advantage’

Trust in Digital Life (TDL), the community of leading industry partners and knowledge institutes that promotes trust and trustworthy services in the digital economy, today highlights the commercial opportunities that are opening to organisations embracing GDPR, by converting the growing group of ‘reluctant sharers’ into profitable customers.

The new TDL Working Group publication ‘Privacy: the competitive advantage’ identifies a new class of digital customer – reluctant sharers. These consumers are concerned about sharing their personal details, but feel compelled to do so to gain access to the products and services they need and want. The Mobile Ecosystem Forum (MEF) states that reluctant sharers comprise more than 41% of all people online, whilst others are less concerned or oblivious to the risks.

The TDL report gives clear guidance to organisations (particularly SMEs) about the merits of empowering reluctant sharers with control and transparency over the personal data held about them, and what is done with it. It highlights how rewarding customer loyalty and trust when transacting data for services, can prove mutually beneficial.

Co-author of the report, David Goodman, explains: “GDPR shifts the balance of power towards the customer, their personal data becomes like inventory on a company balance sheet, potentially an asset or a liability to an organisation. Customer data and how it is managed can either contribute business benefits, or be a toxic issue that will require expensive attention to remedy if not dealt with.”

In the report, TDL explains how organisations can cultivate a competitively differentiated business culture regarding GDPR and where necessary adapt working practices in accordance with the well-known seven principles of privacy by design:

Proactive not reactive: preventative not remedial

Privacy as the default setting

Privacy embedded into design

Full functionality – positive-sum, not zero-sum

End-to-end security – full lifecycle protection

Visibility and transparency – keep it open

Respect for user privacy – keep it user-centric

Co-author Geoff Revill adds: “Reviewing your company’s processes against these principles may help you understand how close, or far away you are from having the right leadership culture to mitigate risk and maximise this differential business opportunity.” He concludes: “In fact, if you follow these principles to the letter, you may find little need for consent and your services will have few if any privacy settings!”

The TDL Working Group publication coincides with the 12-month countdown for organisations to be compliant with EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) on 25th May 2018. It was co-authored by respected independent privacy and identity experts Geoff Revill and David Goodman and is available to download free-of-charge from the TDL website.